Association Football (Soccer)

Europe

European countries dominated the FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa during the summer of 2010. (SeeSidebar.) Spain defeated the Netherlands 1–0 in the final on July 11 with an overtime goal in the 116th minute from Andrés Iniesta. Germany defeated Uruguay 3–2 in the match for third place.

The incident in the first knockout round when the England team, playing against Germany, was denied an obvious goal reinforced the argument for introducing technology to the game to settle such goal-line disputes. UEFA, the sport’s European governing body, had already experimented in its new Europa League with an extra official behind each bye-line, as both UEFA and FIFA were reluctant to continue trials involving a microchip in the ball itself and a computerized sensor on the goal line.

In the wake of the World Cup, there were two notable casualties among Europe’s coaches. Significantly, it concerned the 2006 finalists, Italy and France, neither of which made it out of the group stage in 2010. Italian manager Marcello Lippi announced his intention of resigning his post, and French coach Raymond Domenech was dismissed and replaced by Laurent Blanc, a former international player. The French squad revolted in South Africa and refused to train after French striker Nicolas Anelka was expelled from the tournament. As a punishment, several players, including Anelka, were suspended in August, and the entire 23-man squad was excluded from being on the roster for France’s next match, played that month in Norway.

UEFA was also active in the disciplinary area. The FYR Macedonia club FK Pobeda was banned for eight years for match fixing, the case dating back to a Champions League fixture with FC Pyunik of Armenia in 2004. The Pobeda president was banned for life from participating in any football capacity. In addition, the Spanish club RCD Mallorca was prevented from taking part in the UEFA Europa League in 2010–11 for having failed to comply with license regulations.

Spain’s hope of winning the Champions League in 2010 was dashed in the semifinal when Milan’s Internazionale defeated the favoured Barcelona with a shrewd tactical plan devised by the Italian club’s Portuguese coach José Mourinho, who had led Portugal’s FC Porto to the Champions League title in 2004. On May 22 a crowd of 73,710 in the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, the home field of Real Madrid, and an estimated TV audience of 36,949,000—including, for the first time, viewers from the U.S. on a national terrestrial network—watched Inter and Germany’s Bayern Munich play the first Champions League final to be scheduled on a Saturday. Overall viewing figures were down nearly 20% from the previous year.

Bayern was expected to take the initiative from the kickoff, but Internazionale’s response was not as well defined, given the tactical genius of Mourinho. In fact, the pattern of play was soon evident, as Inter was content to concede territory and rely on counterattacking. It was Bayern that came closest to opening the score. Only quick reaction by Inter’s Argentine defender Walter Samuel snuffed out the threat from forward Ivica Olic of Croatia. Dutch midfielder Arjen Robben on the right flank was a danger to the Italian team with his strength in possession and continual movement inside, but once Inter detailed two players to track him, the problem lessened. After 35 minutes Inter scored. As Brazilian goalkeeper Júlio César cleared up field, Diego Milito headed on to his Dutch teammate Wesley Sneijder, who returned the ball perfectly in Milito’s path for the Argentine striker to clip the ball over the advancing Bayern goalkeeper, Jörg Butt. Sneijder might have added to the score but instead hit a free kick straight at Butt, one of only five Germans on the Bayern side. (There were no Italian players in Inter’s starting 11.) The second half mirrored much of the first, and Bayern patiently kept the same formation, though having to channel its attacks from other areas rather than relying on Robben. In the 70th minute, Inter added its second goal, with Cameroonian forward Samuel Eto’o feeding Milito, who turned his Belgian defender Daniel Van Buyten and made it 2–0.

Nine days after clinching a unique treble for an Italian club—winning the Serie A, Coppa Italia, and Champions League titles—Mourinho signed a contract to coach Real Madrid. He also ended the season with the unusual statistic of having completed 136 home matches without defeat as a coach with three clubs (Porto, England’s Chelsea, and Internazionale) in eight years.

After the Europa League final in Hamburg on May 12, there was another coaching departure. Roy Hodgson left Fulham FC for another England team, Liverpool, after Fulham’s 2–1 defeat by Atlético de Madrid in the first title game of the revamped tournament (previously the UEFA Cup). With limited previous experience in European competitions, Fulham battled through 19 matches to reach the final, where Atlético quickly put pressure on the Fulham defense. The Spanish side might have opened the scoring as early as the 12th minute, but an effort by Uruguayan international Diego Forlán struck an upright. Atlético went ahead 20 minutes later when Sergio Agüero of Argentina took advantage of a defensive error, and though he miscued his shot, the ball fell to Forlán, who racked up the goal. The lead lasted just five minutes before Welshman Simon Davies equalized the score from a centre by Hungarian international Zoltan Gera. Fulham gained confidence from this goal and came more into contention early in the second half, when only a smart reaction by the Atlético goalkeeper, Spaniard David de Gea, prevented Davies from adding to his score. The London club replaced English forward Bobby Zamora with Clint Dempsey, who thus became the first American player to appear in a major European final. There was no further score until overtime, when in the dying moments Agüero caught defender Chris Baird of Northern Ireland off balance and slipped the ball to Forlán, who with the lightest of touches diverted it into the goal past Fulham’s Australian goalkeeper, Mark Schwarzer.

Leading the summer spending spree among English clubs was Manchester City, which spent €154 million (€1 = about $1.25) on seven new players while unloading the Brazilian international Robinho to AC Milan. When the 2010–11 season kicked off, it was estimated that the 20 English Premier League clubs’ starting lineups represented a market value of €1.2 billion. Meanwhile, Barcelona paid Valencia €40 million for Spain’s World Cup star, David Villa. In a move to curb the spiral of trading fees and foreign imports, the Premier League introduced a limit of 25 players per squad, 8 of whom were required to have been brought up through clubs’ youth programs, but with no limit on players under age 21.

Europe’s Golden Boot winner was Lionel Messi, the Argentine international playing for Barcelona. He scored 34 goals. Luis Suárez, the Uruguayan striker with Ajax of Amsterdam, had 35, but because of the lower rating of the Dutch Eredivisie, he did not qualify.

In domestic competition, FC Santa Coloma in Andorra was unbeaten in 20 league matches; Partizan Belgrade did even better in Serbia, with 30 games without a defeat. Botev Plovdiv just survived in Bulgaria’s First Division until the winter break because of serious financial problems, and its remaining fixtures were awarded 0–3 to the opposing teams. In Croatia there was a strict scrutiny of clubs promoted to the top level to gauge their viability. In Ireland, Cork City was relegated for having become insolvent.

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